What is SEO?

SEO is short for 'Search Engine Optimization', and it is the process of using organic SEO techniques to get your website on page 1 in the search engine result pages (SERPs), and preferably above your competition.

You optimize your website for search engines by sending them the right signals and information about your website so they can easily crawl and indexed your page..

And by providing great content to your visitors, or customers based on their search queries, and send the right signal.

The more your content is understood by search engines, the more pages are crawled and indexed.

How Google Search Engine Works?

I am not going to talk about how Google search engine works in details (this will require a huge book to be written).

I am sure there is a book already written about keyword and how it can improve your ranking, therefore, I am not going into detail.

However:

I am going to share with you my simple to follow SEO optimization tips about keywords.

But before I do that, I recommend you perform keyword research, preferably semantic keyword research, before you start using keywords willy nilly for you might bring the wrong crowd, I call 'window shoppers' to your site

Keyword in Title

Including your target keyword in your Title tag and at the beginning will give you a ranking boost

Keyword in URL

Having your keyword in a short URL will give your page an edge over your competition who doesn't have their target keyword in their URL

Keyword in Navigation Menu

Bad Example - Menu not properly labeled

Good Example (I believe so)

Keyword in your menu will help search engines and users better understand your site/page and will give you an edge over your competition with non-descriptive labels in their menu.

For example:

If you offer a dozen of services, I recommend you list your top 2 or 3 services on your main navigation menu, and move the rest to your footer

Additional SEO services listed in the footer

Keyword in Headings

Again, use your target keyword in your H1 heading only.

Leave the other headings (H2 - H6) to improve your page layout and help break up your content for easy read

Keyword in Content

Without keyword in your content, search engines might not understand what your page is about.

Just because you have your target keyword in your title tag, URL and heading, it doesn't mean you should not included a well researched keyword/semantic keyword in your content.

Just make sure you are not spamming your keyword or over optimizing it.

Keyword Density

Keyword density used to be important, but not anymore.

However:

You can still use it so that Google can easily determine the topic of your page, as long as you don't go overboard.

LSI Keyword - Not just Keyword

Using LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keyword in your content is the new kid in the block when it comes to getting an edge over your competitor who is using exact match keyword in their content.

My site optimization tip for this is:

Use semantic keyword based on users' intent in your content

Having your keyword in 'page description' tag

Using your keyword, or semantic keyword in your description tag can boost the relevancy signal of your page and might give you an edge over your competition.

Go ahead and try it:

And you might see your keyword highlighted in Google search result.

Including keyword in Images

My SEO recommendation for images are:

Use your target keyword in the image file name

Write a good description in your image alt text

You can use another LSI in your title so you don't spam or over optimize

Optimizing your images for speed before uploading them

I've performed many SEO audits and what I found is that most of the websites I audited didn't have their images optimized for site speed.

Not optimizing your images for speed will increase your page load time

So before you upload any image and use it on a page, remember to reduce your image file size first.

If you don't know how to do that, then here is my SEO tip to help you reduce image file size and improve your page load time:

Use GTMetrix

After scanning your page with GTMetrix, scrowl down to the 'optimize images' section and look at the list.

Next to each list, you'll see 'optimized version' link. Clicking on that link will take you to a page with your optimized image.

Just save it to your desktop and upload.

Also:

While there, don't forget to include each image dimensions (width and height) in your HTML

Links are also an important part of your SEO campaign, and this is why I am sharing my SEO tips regarding links:

I recommend you link your page to relevant content on an authoritative site for it will boost your page relevancy and possibly improve your page rank

Don't have too many outbound links on a single page, unless the page talks about sub-topic related to your main topic

Inter-link your pages to your home page when needed, and to another page with similar topic but different content.

For example, my 'Affordable SEO' is an important page for me, so whenever I have a page that talks about search engine optimization and want to emphasize our SEO services, I link to that page using a different or semantic keyword in the anchor text (not the same exact match keyword)

If you've implemented my 18 SEO tips above but you still can't get on page one of Google and above your competition, I can help. You can request a free initial SEO consultation, or call me directly at 484.662.3084 and see what I can do for you.

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